From Draughtsman to Triathlete

Tony Rendall has been a draughtsman at REIDsteel for fifteen years. In his free time he is a keen triathlete having competed in many events over the years.

We offer our sincere congratulations to him, as he recently came 15th at the 2013 Triathlon World Championships in London. Here’s what he has to say about his triathlon training and experiences:

“I race at Olympic distance and Sprint distance Triathlon events in the UK and abroad. For the Olympic distance these consist of a 1500m swim, followed by a 40km cycle, and finish with a 10km run and take around 2 hours to complete.

The Sprint races cover half of these distances but are run at a very fast pace (virtually flat out) so are just as hard.

I usually train in excess of 10 hours a week including double sessions before and after work to keep me competitive and near the front end of the field.

I have represented Great Britain at the last two age group World Championship grand finals in New Zealand and London, and also at this year’s European Championship finals in Turkey.

New Zealand 2012 was my first World Championship and it was an amazing experience. To be honest I was a little depressed after they were over, as I’d worked and raced all year to qualify for the event.

There were 150,000 people watching the races over the week in the city while we were there, and it still makes me a bit tingly now thinking about it.

They closed off the north side of Auckland City to do the race and the same happened this year in London. Racing round the coast road in New Zealand was fantastic but so was racing through closed roads in London.

In Auckland the swim was in the harbour which was really cold, but in London it was in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, just a bit warmer. In Turkey it was 22 Degrees Celsius in the water and the air temperature was over 30! Three big races and three completely different events.

I get to race in some really great places in the UK alone, so I haven’t really got a favourite event. I try and get to foreign or bigger races earlier so I do sometimes get a bit of time to sight see and enjoy the atmosphere.

2013 has been my most successful year so far, having finished 9th at the European Age Group Championships and 15th at the London World Age Group Championships out of 124 finalists. I was very pleased to be only 2 minutes 30 seconds behind the winner at the Worlds, so my training is definitely helping propel me in the right direction.

It makes me very proud to represent my country at this level, while doing something I really enjoy, and it’s nice to be around such focused and professional people.

At the World Champs in London there were 83 nations represented, which is more than there ever has been at any other mass event held in the capital before. As the biggest growing sport in the UK it also means that the competition here and abroad is very high.

Hopefully with some hard training over the winter I can stay at the sharp end and achieve the goals that I have set myself.”